SEBRING, Fla. — For the second consecutive race, Cadillac Racing claimed the front-row starting spots.
Cadillac Racing earned its 25th pole award in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype competition since 2017 as Pipo Derani topped Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) qualifying for the 72nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac.
That total includes five at Sebring International Raceway.
Derani toured the demanding 3.741-mile, 17-turn course in 1 minute, 48.152 seconds to pace the 10-car field. The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Sebastien Bourdais, qualified second with a best lap of 1:48.299 during the scheduled 15-minute afternoon session that was truncated by a red flag.
“Congratulations to the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R on securing pole position in qualifying for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac,” said John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac. “We are excited to get back on the track and compete for the overall win this weekend.”
Derani was also the pole sitter for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in late January and Bourdais was close behind in second.
“It is a good start for the race,” said Derani, the defending and four-time winner of the race.
Louis Deletraz wound up third fastest in the No. 40 Acura (1:48.593/123.985 mph). Matteo Cairoli qualified the No. 63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 eighth in the 11-car GTP field (1:53.574/118.547 mph), in the car’s IMSA debut.
Cadillac has taken the overall victory in five of the last seven years at Sebring, and two of Derani’s four Sebring wins have been achieved with the American marque. Derani is teamed with Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist in the No. 31 this year.
Hyett Puts Fire-Breathing Spike the Dragon on LMP2 Pole
P.J. Hyett made no bones about it: Winning the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) pole on Friday at Sebring ranks right up there in his life highlight reel, both on and off the track.
“Let’s just say this is probably top three moments of my life happening right now,” Hyett said after collecting his first career Motul Pole Award. “When I met my wife, birth of my children and I just got pole at Sebring in a P2. I don’t know what the hell’s happening, it’s wonderful.”
Hyett zipped around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit in 1 minute, 52.142 seconds (124.491 mph) midway through the 15-minute session, a lap that held up to put “Spike the Dragon,” the purple-liveried No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07, on the pole. In just the second WeatherTech Championship LMP2 race for driver and team, Hyett will lead the class to the green flag in Saturday’s 12-hour race.
“There’s a lot of emotions going through me right now just because of how special it feels,” said Hyett, who shares the No. 99 this weekend with Paul-Loup Chatin and Matthew Brabham. “The dragon was definitely breathing fire today.”
Hyett’s best lap was 0.171 seconds quicker than runner-up Daniel Goldburg in the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA. It also gave AO Racing a Motul Pole Award for the second race, following the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) pole earned by Seb Priaulx in the team’s No. 77 Porsche 911 GT3 R — more famously known as “Rexy” for its dinosaur livery — at the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
For Hyett, who’s also the team principal, the ability to match AO’s popular marketing plan and car schemes geared at drawing new young fans to the sport with on-track performance makes the accomplishments all the sweeter.
“I love that we’ve been able to marry our fun new approach to sports car racing with actual results,” he said. “Obviously, we’ve got to do our job tomorrow; it’s going to be a long, hot race. But I couldn’t be more thrilled about what’s happening.”
No. 14 Lexus’ Redemption Starts with Sebring GTD PRO Pole
Vasser Sullivan’s championship winner from last year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season has bounced back from its issues at Daytona in January.
Jack Hawksworth posted a class-record lap of 1 minute, 58.714 seconds (113.415 mph) in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in Friday’s qualifying session to claim the Motul Pole Award in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class for the 72nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac.
The No. 14 Lexus and co-drivers Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood will start first among all GT cars and 23rd overall in the 58-car field when the race takes the green flag at 9:40 a.m. ET Saturday. Flag-to-flag coverage streams live on Peacock beginning at 9:30 a.m., with USA Network joining at 4 p.m. through the finish.
“This is nice,” Hawksworth said after exiting the car. “I don’t think I’ve had (a pole position) here before. This is cool. It’s a big race, so it’s always nice to start up front.
“The team did a really good job kind of dropping me into a nice gap,” he added. “Completely clear track, could bring my tires in the way I wanted to, then could put a nice lap in.”
Mario Farnbacher locked down the No. 2 GTD PRO starting position (and fifth among GT cars) with a lap of 1:59.264 (112.892 mph) in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo he shares with full-season drivers Alex Riberas and Ross Gunn.
Seb Priaulx was clocked at 1:59.446 (112.720 mph) in “Rexy,” the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) with the fan-favorite dinosaur livery that he co-drives with Laurin Heinrich and Michael Christensen.
The pole award marked a recovery of sorts for Vasser Sullivan’s GTD PRO entry, which qualified second in class for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona but was caught up in an early crash and finished 11th in class.
“(Sebring) is a 12-hour race, so much can happen,” Hawksworth said. “Obviously we had the incident at Daytona, but the guys obviously really turned up here. We feel pretty strong. We’re ready to rip tomorrow. We’re ready to get after it and go have some fun.”
Worth the Wait: Cetilar Ferrari Awarded GTD Pole
Antonio Fuoco and Cetilar Racing had to wait over an hour to learn where their Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) Ferrari will line-up for the start of Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac, but the delay was worth it.
The No. 47 Ferrari 296 GT3 will start from the GTD pole and second among all GT cars following the demotion of the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 for running unapproved sensors during the qualifying session.
“It was a good qualy,” Fuoco said. “Starting on pole position for the Twelve Hour, we know it’s going to be really tough for tomorrow especially with the conditions are quite warm. But we will try to do our best.”
History shows the best that Cetilar, Fuoco and co-drivers Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto can do is pretty good. The same combination of drivers and team won the 2022 Sebring Twelve Hours GTD class in a Ferrari 488 GT3 — the predecessor of the 296 GT3 they’re racing this weekend — taking the checkered flag nearly a minute clear of second place.
Fuoco was credited with the fastest GTD lap (2:01.213) in the race.
On Friday, Fuoco clocked a best lap of 1:59.014 (113.129 mph) to edge the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus of Parker Thompson by 0.029 seconds. Philip Ellis had the fastest lap of GTD in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes (1:58.778) but the car was moved to the rear of the field after the sensor infraction was discovered in post-qualifying technical inspection.
Mikael Grenier was third fastest in the revised GTD lineup with a lap of 1:59.350 (112.810 mph) in the No. 32 Korthoff/Peterson Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3. Twenty-two GTD cars will take the green flag in Saturday’s 12-hour race, along with 12 in the GTD PRO class.